According to report out of Benin City, Nigeria, authorities have arrested 20 suspects who had banded together as a scam group targeting widows on various social networks using false identities and other scam tactics. Police raid confiscated 48 laptops, 20+ phones, 8 wireless modems, and one vehicle. When questioned, they confessed to primarily engaged in dating scams targeting foreign widows, and have them send money with promises of love and marriage.
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This is a growing problem as seniors, especially widows, are starved for attention and some simply are too naive to realize that "On the internet, nobody knows if you're a dog" (or a scammer). At least one Australian pensioner was found dead in South Africa after traveling there to find her "true love". Another was stopped TWICE at the Australian airport trying to travel to Africa, which horrified her daughter and the police detectives working the fraud cases.
Ah, but what do these scammers have in common?
Watch out for scammers, not only in your life, but those of your relatives and friends.
- Religion: vast majority of fake dating scammers claim either they are Christians, or religion is very important in their lives.
- Looking for Women: According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the most common romance scam target is a woman over 40
- Widower: Over 60 percent of scam profiles surveyed say that they're widowers.
- Education: no scam profile surveyed claimed only high school or bachelors. In contrast, significant number of them claim to have graduate or Ph. D. degrees.
Watch out for scammers, not only in your life, but those of your relatives and friends.
